It is lower and wider, the better to prevent rollover accidents. It has a third-row seat to appeal to families who would otherwise buy a minivan. It is chock full of cutting-edge safety gear, including an optional protective curtain designed to prevent occupants from spilling out of the vehicle in a rollover crash. One thing it isn't, however, is more fuel efficient - at least not yet. Ford is aiming to improve the Explorer's average fuel economy by five miles a gallon by 2005 as part of a broader commitment to boost the fuel economy of its SUV fleet by an average of 25 per cent. But for its first year, the redesigned Explorer gets about the same mileage as the current model: 15 miles in the city and 20 on the highway for the standard 4.0 liter V-6 engine in a four-wheel drive model.

The trade-offs Ford made in designing the new Explorer illustrate just how complex it will be for auto companies to repaint themselves and their products in brighter shades of green. The new Explorer also shows how the SUV market is evolving away from its off-road adventuring roots. Ford officials express confidence the new Explorer will be a hit, but the changing SUV market is opening the way for rival products to slice away at the Explorer's franchise using vehicles that combine car-like ride and fuel economy with SUV looks and functionality.

In fact, Ford officials concede that the new Explorer will face some competition from a recently launched, car-derived SUV called the Ford Escape. Mainstream Phenomenon. The original Explorer, launched a decade ago, transformed the SUV from a niche product into a mainstream phenomenon.

Jeep, now part of DaimlerChrysler AG, had a powerful brand. But the Explorer offered more cargo room and more car-like amenities - and sales exploded. As more and more suburbanites traded cars and minivans for SUVs, the Explorer became the best-selling vehicle of its kind in America, selling 431,000 vehicles in 1998. Customers loved the feeling of riding high in a go-anywhere vehicle. But they didn't like so well the compromises in safety, comfort and fuel economy that came along with truck-based vehicles such as the Explorer.

So when the development of the new 2002 Explorer was begun in 1996, the team that took on the task had a long list of priorities, of which achieving a mile-per-gallon increase in fuel economy was just one, says Dale Claudepierre, Ford's compact utilities vehicle line director. "We wanted to make the vehicle more user friendly to families, without giving up anything in strength," he says.

At the top of the pyramid of concerns families had was safety. The tendency of high-riding SUV's to roll over more frequently than sedans became a higher profile concern.

It wasn't just a matter of adding an airbag or two. "We had to improve accident avoidance," Mr. Claudepierre says. His team also saw consumers wanted their SUV's to have a third-row seat, like a minivan. And they wanted relief from the bumpy and relatively noisy ride that came along with the Explorer's truck-tough, four-wheel drive functionality. "People are looking at this not as the husband's toy, but as the main passenger vehicle for the family," Claudepierre says.

The Explorer team translated feedback from Explorer owners into several key product decisions. To make room for a third-row seat and improve the ride, Ford engineers redesigned the Explorer's rear suspension and frame so that the rear floor of the vehicle is seven inches lower than in the old model.

To produce a smoother ride, the old Explorer's solid rear axle was replaced by a more complex mechanism that allows each rear wheel to move independently over bumps. To make the new Explorer easier to handle, the Ford team made the vehicle wider and lower. Later in 2001, Ford plans to add a system it calls "AdvanceTrac" that includes an electronic "yaw" stabilizer that will help prevent the Explorer from pitching over too much in a turn. To respond to regulators' concerns about the damage SUV's inflict to cars in collisions, Ford dropped the front frame rails by 2.5 inches so that they align with the frame of a midsize Taurus. Taken together, the new features, particularly the third-row seat, combined to make the 2002 Explorer about 200 pounds heavier than its predecessor - and that was after Ford saved about 200 pounds by making the fenders and hood out of aluminum. "The extra weight ate up our fuel-economy gains," Claudepierre says.

To claw back the lost ground and help deliver on the company's new SUV fuel-efficiency vow, Claudepierre says the Explorer team will have to make more changes under the hood - probably a smaller V-6 engine and six-speed automatic transmission instead of the current five speed. For the 2001 model year, a four-wheel drive, four-door Explorer XLT starts at $30,455 including freight charges. Prices for comparable 2002 models will likely be in the $30,000 range, though the third-row seat will be an extra cost option.

-- (The Wall Street Journal)